KHIVA 63
and then treacherously annihilated them in detail. This disaster did not prevent the Russians from sending embassies from time to time to the khan, but the representations of the envoys did not induce him to desist from enslaving Russian subjects or even to free those already in bondage. The Persian campaign which subsequently followed, the designs in other parts of Central Asia, and the constant embroilment of Russia in European wars caused Khivan affairs to recede temporarily to the background, and it was not until the third decade of the 19th century that the attention of the Muscovite Government was again directed to the khanate. In 1839 a force under General Perovsky, consisting of three and a half battalions, three Cossack regiments, and twenty-two guns, in all 4500 men, with a large train of camels, moved from Orenburg across the Ust Urt to the Khivan frontiers, in order to occupy the khanate, liberate the captives, and open the way for trade. This expedition likewise terminated in disaster. The inaccessibility of Khiva was once more her safeguard. Before the force reached half-way towards its destination it was forced to return, in consequence of the severity of the weather and the loss of life among the men and animals. These expeditions had convinced the Russians that for the effective control of the relations of Khiva a nearer position must be sought. In 1847 they founded the Raim fort at the mouth of the Jaxartes. As this advance deprived the Khivans not only of territory, but of a large number of tax-paying Kirghiz, while the establishment of a fort gave the Russians a base for further operations, a collision became sooner or later inevitable. For the next few years, however, the attention of the Russians was taken up with Khokand, their operations on that side culminating in the capture of Tashkend in 1865. Free in this quarter, they directed their thoughts once more to Khiva. In 1869 Krasnovodsk on the east shore of the Caspian was founded, and in 1871-72 the country leading to Khiva from different parts of Russian Turkestan was thoroughly explored and surveyed. In 1873 an expedition to Khiva was carefully organized on a large scale. The forces placed at the disposal of General v. Kaufmann started from three different bases of operation – Krasnovodsk, Orenburg, and Tashkend. The whole force consisted of more than 10,000 men. Khiva was occupied by the Russians almost without opposition. All the territory (35,700 square miles, and 110,000 souls) on the right bank of the Oxus was annexed to Russia and formed into the Amu Daria sub-district, while a heavy war indemnity was imposed upon the khanate. The difficult position financially in which the khan is thereby placed has more than once impelled him to beg the Russians to take the country under their administration. Russia, however, prefers the present arrangement of maintaining Khiva semi-independent instead of in complete subjection, for, not only does the collection of the indemnity fall upon the Khivan authorities, but the country shields the Russian possessions on the Oxus from the attacks of the Turcomans, which if made must first come in contact with the intervening territory of Khiva.
Topography. – The Khivan oasis is indebted for its fertility to the waters of the Oxus, which by means of irrigating canals and ditches penetrate into what was at one time barren steppe. Where this water reaches the land teems with life; where it ends all is death and a waste. The area of sandy desert reclaimed by the Oxus is estimated by the late Major Wood, Madras Engineers, at 1½ millions of acres. The soil of the khanate is a tenacious clay of a red and grey colour, more or less impregnated with sand, – the detritus brought down by the river. Black earth is seldom seen; but earth strongly impregnated with salt is frequently found. The oasis is generally level, except some unimportant heights and sand-hills.
That part of the Oxus which waters the khanate has at Pitniak a north-west direction, and flows within a single bed. Below Kipchak it bends sharply to the west, and, after describing part of a semicircle to Hodjeili and giving off the Laudan, which with the Usboi forms the ancient course of the Oxus, resumes its north-west course to Kungrad. There it takes a north direction, dividing into two branches, the Taldyk and Ulkun, the latter the principal arm, and ultimately disembogues by many channels into the Sea of Aral. The banks of the river are generally low, and in midsummer do not stand more than 6 to 20 feet above the level of the water. The river is in flood three or four times a year, the chief periods being in April and May, when it overflows its banks and does much damage to the canal dams. The average velocity is about 3 miles an hour, but at times of inundation the current becomes much more rapid. The breadth of the river at ordinary times varies from ¼ to ⅔ mile, but increases to 3 or more miles at inundations. There are no obstacles to navigation in the shape of rapids, but the shifting of the sand banks acts as an impediment. The water of the Oxus is wholesome, although of a yellowish-brown colour, which is due to particles in suspension. These particles are gritty, and unlike the mud of the Nile do not fertilize the ground. The deposit from the water when dried is used by the Khivans to form their dams. In consequence of the large body of matter brought down, the irrigating canals require constant clearing. These canals vary from 20 to 150 feet in breadth, and from 10 to 20 feet in depth, and are sometimes as much as 80 miles long. They have a current of about 2 miles an hour, and are mostly navigable by boats. The direction of the canals is west and north-west, from which it may be concluded that the left bank of the river has a natural slope towards the Caspian. By actual measurement it has been found that the fall of the ancient bed is 400 feet from the point near Kipchak where it had its origin to Balkhan Bay in the Caspian, – a distance of 500 miles.
From the statement of Abulghazi Khan and other proofs there can be little doubt that two hundred and fifty years ago the Oxus flowed into the Caspian through the Usboi, which was connected with the present channel by at any rate three arms – Daudan, Daryalik, and Lauzan or Laudan. The alteration in the course of the river was probably due to the gradual elevation of the land where the old bed passed, from which naturally resulted a diminution in the velocity of the stream, and at the same time a silting of the channel. From this cause the waters of the Oxus found for themselves another outlet. Whether the Russians will be able to carry out their scheme of forcing the Oxus to resume its old course to the Caspian it would be premature to offer an opinion, but the surveys at present are not favourable. The advantages to Russia would be great, as she would have a continuous waterway from the Volga to Afghanistan.
The khanate has numerous lakes, especially towards the Aral, connected together by affluents and canals. They are usually covered with reeds. Lake Aibugir, once a large inlet of the Aral, is now dry.
The means of communication in the khanate is by road and by water. The roads are usually narrow, but some are as much as 70 feet wide. In spring and autumn, at the time of inundations, they are in bad order. Internal trade is carried on by camels and by carts.
Government. – The government is an absolute despotism, and, subject to a certain moral control exercised by the proximity of the Russians, is entirely in the hands of the khan. The chief secular officials are (1) the kush-begi or vizier, prime minister; (2) mehter, chancellor of the exchequer; (3) inakh, four in number, local governors; (4)
